May 8, 2014

AND WE'VE PLENTY OF ROOM FOR MORE:

Roughly 1 in 5 Americans (about 21%) will be 65 years old and up by 2050, compared with just 13% in 2010 and less than 10% in 1970, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report released Tuesday.

These look like eye-popping demographic changes, but they seem less so when you compare them to what's happening in places like Japan, Germany, Italy and even China.

In 2050, around 40% of Japan's population will be 65-plus, up from 24% in 2012. In Germany and Italy, over 30% will be 65+ (up from about 21% for both). Spain and Poland are in the same ballpark (31%, 32%).

Meanwhile, similar figures for Canada and China are 26% (up from 16%) and 27% (up from 9%). That's right: By 2050, China, whose 1.3 billion people are relatively young now, will have a larger share of its population over 65 than the U.S. will. [...]

[T]he big -- or rather, global -- picture is that the U.S. remains relatively young compared with its peers. As Census points out, this is partly due to immigration, which has boosted the U.S.'s younger working-age population.